I hate insurance.
Yes, I know it is often a necessary expense.
Banks will not loan money without some insurance that their loan is safe. They require Title Insurance in the rare event where the property involved is not the legal property of the borrower. Mortgage insurance is sometimes required if the borrower may find himself unable to make payments.
Car insurance, particularly liability insurance is required to compensate people injured beyond the drivers ability to pay for damages. These insurances protect injured parties and the responsible party from financial ruin.
The insurance that sticks in my craw is the insurance that is sold like a chain letter.
The chain letter warns that unless you forward this message to seven other people you will suffer bad luck. Very annoying, but many people do forward that letter rather than risk “Bad Luck.”
Some insurance threatens that you buy this insurance or you may suffer specific damages. They prey on peoples superstitions.
Companies offer insurance on everything.
If you buy anything these days, sales people also try and sell you insurance on issues that may arise or product failure. I suspect these dealers make more money on the insurance of the products than they do on the actual sale.
When these salesmen offer this insurance I tell them that for the last twenty years I have recorded all the policies I have not purchased and balanced that against product failure covered by those policies. I am currently $14,678 ahead of the game so I will not be paying $20 to insure my $75 toaster oven.
Have you ever tried to cash in on an insured item? I am sure some policies do pay off, but many times you find that the item has depreciated so much that your $500 purchase is now only worth $78 in coverage. Hell, you paid $50 for that coverage…you just saved $28. Whoop-Tee-Doo!!
I once paid $100 to insure a $900 refrigerator. I think most refrigerators have a life of about 15 years…at least the older models did. I paid $100 because I was assured that after 7 years if I made no claims I would get a refund of $50 dollars. At the end of 7 years, I had no idea where the papers for that purchase were…actually it didn’t matter, the dealer went out of business three years after the purchase.
I have been told I need insurance against car repairs.
“If you have a car issue…and you WILL, Car Care is there to help you.”
Maybe, but I do not trust that they will pay $2000 to repair the engine of your $800 car.
A Car Care commercial offers several satisfied buyers who claim that Car Care is “Reliable. affordable, and trustworthy.” Their agents are “Friendly, knowledgeable and money saving experts.” Call me a skeptic, but aren’t reliable and trustworthy pretty much the same thing? Did their agents get a college degree in “money saving car repair insurance” or do they just have a chart of prices based on car year and model?
I have been told I need insurance for repair of my water main that runs from the street to my house. I really hesitate to mention this for that chain letter type threat this policy covers, but in my 50 years of home ownership I have never heard of this problem. I have not known or heard of even one person who has had this problem. I know it has happened, but balancing the odds versus the cost, I’d rather play the Big Wheel at a casino.
There are also people selling insurance for any household breakdowns. Yes I do know people who have bought this and received benefits, but I doubt that over a ten year period the benefits have ever exceeded their costs.
My final beef with insurance is almost all have a loophole.
“Oh, that warranty is passed its date.”
“Well, we cover the drive-train, but not if you missed an oil change by 18 miles or more.”
“I’m sorry, that division of our company has gone out of business.”
And the always popular:
“Sir, did you not read the fine print?”
I am afraid to push publish on this post. As soon as I do, my car will breakdown, the refrigerator will stop running, my water line will explode and there will be a slip and fall accident on my sidewalk.
What the heck I’m going to publish it anyway.
Done.
What; I don’t have life insurance? Is it too late to delete?
The majority is definitely a scam. Whenever I'm offered 'extended warranty' on a purchase like an appliance, i always say something sarcastic like, "you mean you expect it to fail in less than 3 years?" They just look at me.
ReplyDeleteI think I get a letter once a week from water, gas, or electric offering me coverage. What a waste of money.
I never trust companies who ask for support. They're all on the make, as we call it.
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh! We get that letter about insuring our water line from the street to the house. We have a private well.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, we had insurance on a VCR. When it went bad, we had to drive it to an obscure location in St. Louis (60 miles one-way), leave it for a week, then drive back to pick it up. Not worth the cost and inconvenience.
Did you ever notice that the biggest buildings in the city are insurance companies?
ReplyDeleteYou might not.believe this.but my refrigerator is over 40 years old and still looks and works good. It's a Sears Kenmore. I pay enough.insurance without paying on every appliance I have. Cheaper to buy a new one.
ReplyDeleteI have always felt that insurance is the devil's own invention. You bet something bad will happen while the insurance company bets nothing bad will happen to you, being most specific about what that bad thing might be. Either way you lose.
ReplyDeleteWe had to replace our water main.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, sometimes i think insurance is a scandal the way it is run.
I added up one day how much we spend monthly on insurance. Most of this insurance is "needed", i.e. home insurance, car insurance, life insurance. It was a staggering amount but "necessary" in most of the cases. Can't buy a new car without having insurance; can't buy a house without insurance, etc. I generally loathe insurance companies but they are a "necessary" evil. We had an instance years ago when I backed up our car into the rental house's garage and hit the side of it. We had renter's insurance and of course car insurance (2 separate companies). Neither the car insurance or renter's insurance would pay for the damage to the house. The car insurance paid for the damage to the car. Neither company could give me a reasonable explanation why repairing the house was not part of the coverage. Needless to say we don't have insurance from either one of those companies these days.
ReplyDeleteI too hate insurance.
betty
I've never bought the extra insurance for any of my appliances, they all seem to be well made and long lasting and for something as small as a toaster the insurance just isn't worth it. Even my toasters seem to last a long time. A side-by-side fridge&freezer I purchased in 1986 lasted 32 years (fridge) and 33 years (freezer). Any insurance would have long expired. My uninsured washing machine is now 22 years old.
ReplyDeleteIt's like getting ins. on your cell phone. It covers everything except the most expensive potential accident, a cracked screen or shattered screen. It's just stupid.
ReplyDeleteThe only insurance I am sorry I didn't get is prescription insurance with my medicare. When I hit the magic number, I didn't take one aspirin a year and thought it was foolish. Who knew I'd live this long? Of course had I put the amount they would have deducted in a savings account for 18 years, I'd be more than covered today.
ReplyDeleteI must get that car repair insurance daily since I have a 17 year old car. My years qualify still but my mileage of 170,000 is out side their limits.
we are not into insurance though i enjoyed how often and how insurance is involved in your life style dear Joe
ReplyDeletethis is good you have life insurance and i think that is it
all other don't matter i Think
everything has become BUSINESS indeed